Adjustable headlight for street-cars or other vehicles.



Z PATENTED JAN. 6,-1903.

e. P. CHAPMAN. ADJUSTABLE HEADLIGHT FOR STREET CARS 03 OTHER VEHICLES;

APPLICATION FILED MAY 7, 1902 N0 MODEL.

Witnesses we aionaxs Pans cowor umoumsumnmu. 04:. V

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE F. CHAPMAN, OF MARLBORO, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- I-IALF TO LEVI WALLACE, OF AYER, MASSACHUSETTS.

I ADJUSTABLE HEADLlGHT'FOR' STREET-CARS OR OTHER VEHICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 717,811, dated January 6, 1903. Application filed MayV, 1902. Serial No. 106,268. (No model.)

T all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE F. CHAPMAN,

of Marlboro, in the county of MiddleseX and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Adjustable Headlights for Street-Oars. or other Vehicles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an automaticallyadjustable headlight for street-cars or other vehicles; and it consists in the novel features of construction and relative arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described in the specification, clearly illustrated in the drawings, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying sheet of drawings, forming a part of this application, in which like characters indicate like parts wherever they occur.

Figure 1, in side elevation, shows a portion of a street-car equipped with my invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1, the body being removed. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of the pivoted lamp-support.

1 represents the rails of an ordinary street or other railway on a road-bed.

2 represents a truck-beam. I

3 represents the wheels of the truck, of well-known or other preferred construction, since it forms no part of my invention.

4 represents one end of a car-bodyswiveled to the truck-beam 2 in the usual way. the drawings I have shown but one end of the car, it being my purpose to arrange the light upon each end of the car, as is common. In

case, however, of other vehicles, whether mo-- tor-driven or not, it might be desirable to have but one light. All this, however, is a matter of choice, the lights being arranged and operated the same.

10 represents a bracket secured to the free end of the car near the bottom, as shown in Fig. 1. This bracket is formed with two cars 11 and 1 1.

12 represents a rod arranged in suitable apertures in the cars 11 and 14.

13 represents a collar fast upon the rod 12, adapted torest upon the car 1 1 to sustain the rod and the lamp carried thereby. The lower end of the rod is formed with lever-arms 16.

17 represents a cross-piece secured to the upper end of the rod and having recesses or vertical grooves 17.

20 represents an electric or other light carrying upon its rear side clips 21, adapted to 5 5 take over the rod 17 and secure the lamp in place. This construction provides a swiveled headlight-support having means whereby the lamp may be readily removed from or applied to it' and when applied to be firmly connected to with the holder and supported by it. The recesses or grooves 17* receive the outer portions of the lamp-clips 21 and prevent lateral movement of the headlight relatively to the cross-piece, while the latter causes the said headlight to accurately follow the slightest movement imparted to the rod 12 by the arms 16 and the connections presently described.

30 represents a cable, of wire or other flexible but practically non-extensible material, connected at one end to the end of the lever 16.

31 represents a turnbuckle secured at one end to the truck-beam 2 on one side of its center.

The cable 30 is arranged upon fixed guiderollers 32 33 and passes through a swinging guide-roller 34;, the rear end of the cable being connected to the free end of the turnbuckle 31, as shown. A like cable 36 is connected to the free end of the lever 15.

37 represents a turnbuckle secured to the truck-beam on the opposite side of the center from the turnbuckle 31, said turnbuckles being substantially at an equal distance from the pivotal center of the truck-frame. The cable 36 passes through the fixed guide-rolls 38 39 and through the, swinging guide-roll 40 and is connectedat its free end to the end of the turnbuckle 37; After the parts are positioned as shown the turnbuckles 37 are 0 turned until the cables are stretched to the desired extent and a lamp 20 positioned properly-that is to say, so that it will throw the light directly ahead on a straight track, as shown in Fig. 2.

With the parts constructed and arranged as described so long as the car or vehicle proceeds in a straight line the light from the lamp will be projected straight ahead. When, however, the car-truck engages a curve in- 100 stead of, as heretofore, the light being thrown to one side of the track or remaining in a longitudinal axial line of the car, the light will be deflected by the truck-frame and will follow the track irrespective of the length of degree of the curve and irrespective of the 1ongitudinal line of the car-body. This operation will be clearly understood by an inspection of Fig. 2.

Irrespective of the direction of the longitudinal axis of the car-body the rails, acting through the truck 2, will at all times automatically position the light so that it will shine upon the track and not at the side of the roadway. By the movement of the cables it will further be evident that I am enabled to attach my improvement directly to a car without interfering with the mechanism, since the cable may pass in almost any direction by the aid of the guide-rolls.

I do not claim, broadly, in this application a lateral deflectable headlight and means for automatically turning the headlight toward either side of its central position, since the invention is generically claimed by me in another pending application, Serial No. 103,850.

Having thus explained the nature of my invention and described a way of constructing and using the same, though without attempting to set forth all of the forms in which it may be made or all of the modes of its use, What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The combination With a vehicle truckframe and a body, of a headlight-support pivotally mounted on the forward portion of the body, arms extending from said support, and substantially horizontal flexible connections between the truck-frame and the arms of the headlight, said connections being deflected in different directions, said headlight-support having a cross-piece at its upper end provided with vertical recesses adapted to receive clips of a headlight.

2. The combination with a vehicle truckframe and a body, of a bracket carried by said body, and a headlight-support comprising a rod pivotally mounted in said bracket and having a cross-piece at its upper end, said cross-piece having a vertical recess or groove each side of its center and adapted to receive headlight-clips.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE F. CHAPMAN. Witnesses:

M. B. MAY, H. L. ROBBINS. 

